1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to small animal exercise devices, such as mouse exercise wheels, and more particularly to such devices that include electrical lights.
2. Background of the Invention
Exercise wheels that small animals, such as mice or hamsters, can climb into and turn by themselves are well known and are sold in nearly every pet store. The invention was created because the inventor, who is currently twelve years old, has a twin sister who raises mice. One evening, while the inventor watched his sister's mice spin their exercise wheels, he thought it would be nice if the turning of the wheel generated electricity while spinning the wheel. He told his idea to his father, who is a patent attorney with many clients who are inventors. The inventor's father and one of the clients, who is an expert in LED lighted devices, tried to design a mouse wheel with a small electrical generator that would generate enough electricity to light several LEDs. This attempt was not successful, because every device that could be imagined cost too much to build to make it a viable commercial product. Some time later, the inventor found on the Internet several examples of mouse wheels that turned an electrical generator. All of these were so complex that they would tend to be unreliable; in fact, one example failed during tests in a You-tube video. In addition, all of the animal wheels with electrical generators would cost so much to manufacture that they would have to be sold at a price at which parents would balk and which would not be acceptable in pet stores. This is likely the reason that no lighted pet wheels are presently commercially available.